Strider's Beginning
by JoeyBear1424
Summary: Arwen Undómiel is beautiful in every sense of the word. Her oval shaped face is smooth, free of any blemishes or scars. Her skin, ivory white set off by long, dark tresses that seem to shine and shimmer. There's no questioning that she is the Evenstar of her people. But she is not the Evenstar of her husband. Aragorn smiles as she takes his arm and nods to all the people. Fem!Bilbo
1. Chapter 1

Arwen Undómiel is beautiful in every sense of the word. Her oval shaped face is smooth, free of any blemishes or scars. Her skin, ivory white set off by long, dark tresses that seem to shine and shimmer. The circlet adorning her head is thin and spidery, her gown pale green though no bits of dirt or filth dare cling to the gown as she walks towards her husband. There's no questioning that she is the Evenstar of her people. But she is not the Evenstar of her husband. Aragorn smiles as she takes his arm and nods to all the people they pass by. The feeling of her lips on his though lingers heavy and bitter as they pass by one person in particular.

Humans, elves and even hobbits have come to witness his coronation and now they've gathered here to watch his wedding. The smiles on their faces are beaming, their eyes gleaming with hope as he walks by them. It's for the good of his people he reminds himself. To marry Arwen Undómiel means uniting humans and elves together. There is no joy for him on day however. The crown on his brow is heavy; Arwen's hand on his arm almost icy cold. He can find no joy in this day. No pleasure in their kiss. No beauty in Arwen. The very idea of consummating their marriage leaves a sour, twisted feeling in his stomach that he tries desperately to ignore as his eyes fall onto one hobbit in particular.

Just like him Bella doesn't smile. She claps halfheartedly, barely nodding her head as the newlyweds pass them. Beside her another hobbit nudges her just to receive a harsh glare. Aragorn faintly hears her mutter something about needing some good, hard liquor right about now. When he looks over his shoulder she's gone, leaving a stunned looking hobbit in her wake. Beside him Arwen gives his hand a questioning squeeze so he turns back around, smile in place as he faces everyone. That time is over he reminds himself as he smiles at his new wife, at the beginning of this new life and continues on.

The wedding between him and Arwen is purely to bring the race of men and elves together. Aragorn knows this as does she. But as the two sit to eat together, gazing over their wedding guests, he cannot help but notice the bright eyed looks that Arwen keeps throwing at him. There's warmth in her eyes, a happiness that he knows does not reflect in his own eyes. He knows that somewhere deep down in her heart perhaps, she loves him. If he was to scrape down to the very bottom of his heart, he couldn't find any love for her though. This he knows without a doubt. Aragorn returns her looks and occasionally gives her a smile, hoping that there's a scrap of warmth in that smile that Arwen can believe. But mostly his gaze wanders around the room, landing time and time again on the hobbits.

All the hobbits are talking animatedly, laughing between sips of alcohol and food. Their glasses and mugs are refilled repeatedly; their plates cleared away time and time again just to be replaced with newly filled ones. And each time the hobbits all beam, pausing in their conversations to say thanks and smile. The only one who doesn't touch her food in favor of downing glass after glass of wine is Bella. For a moment she eyes her knife and fork and goes as far as to pick them up then sighs, dropping them back onto the table. If the others around her notice her strange behavior they don't comment on it, too caught up in their own conversations.

"Are you all right?" Arwen pulls him from his thoughts. And he realizes that he can find no comfort in her voice either as he nods.

"Of course, my queen. This is the happiest day of my life to be wed and to none other than you." Arwen smiles at his words, a blush coloring her cheeks as she looks down. Aragorn takes the chance as she looks down to risk another glance back at the hobbits. This time, Bella is gone from her spot.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." It takes a smile to reassure her and the gleam in her eyes, the smile she gives him in return is enough to make him feel as if the airs been knocked from his stomach. The guilt washes over him in waves as he follows after Bella. She's easy enough to spot: the green waistcoat with the brass buttons, the head of sandy blonde curls disappearing around a corner.

She doesn't look back as his heavy boots clomp across the floor. All he receives is a huff as her shoulders stiffen, her hands flying to her hips.

"Stop following me."

"Bella, please just listen to me."

"What is there to listen to? Two and a half years in the Shire, two and a half years mean nothing to you do they? Two and a half years of being among hobbits with me as your only friend in the beginning. Of exchanging secrets and allowing myself to fall in love with this strange, rugged man who was so different from any hobbit lad. Of kissing, sneaking away during parties and rolling in the hay; exploring skin, muscles, hair and scars.

"And when you had to leave once every month to go to Rivendell, I never questioned it. Because I thought as your friend you would tell me, as your….as your lover you would tell me that you were the heir to the throne of Gondor. That you were betrothed to an elf that I've got nothing on. Who's more beautiful than any hobbit, any human, and any elf could ever hope to be! The Evenstar of her people!"

"I met you right after it was agreed that an arranged marriage would be best to bring humans and elves together Bella. And it's not an excuse, I know. Her father only agreed to this marriage because it will bring the two races together—it is for the good of my people, for her people."

"But not for the good of me? Not for the good of the hobbits and all the other races huh?" Bella sniffles.

"I did not expect to fall in love with you. I did not expect to go the Shire and meet a hobbit lady who was fierce as a bear and sharp as a tack. Who could steal my heart from right under my feet, who I can't get it back from." Bella purses her lips and even in the dim lighting of the hallway he can see a tear slip down her cheek.

"What do you want Bella?"

"You." Her voice is a whispered croak.

"This is what you want? To sit on a throne day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year? A crown heavy upon your brow? Beside a king who is longer the man who you met in the Shire? A king who you no longer know?"

"You'll always be my king second. And always the man I met in the Shire, the man I fell in love with first." Bella reaches for his hand then pauses, pulling her hand back as if burned. She looks up at him, taking a shaky breath.

"I should allow you to get back to your guests. Terribly unhobbity of me to steal you away from them." Aragorn watches as she walks away, slowly disappearing deeper and deeper into the darkness of the hallway.

"You will always be my queen."

"Goodnight your majesty."

* * *

><p>I'm really, really, really iffy about posting this one on here. I have a huge lady boner Aragornfem!Bilbo and if the need for them is incredible. This will be about three chapters. Maybe more but I'm doubtful. Anyways, I'll see the reception it gets on here then wait to see if I want to post the rest of it. First ever crossover..


	2. Chapter 2

Bella sits with her eyes closed as the dwarf behind her runs a comb through her curls. His own hair, a silvery gray hangs long and loose down his back. The vanity mirror has been flipped so the mirror faces away from her, reflecting the stone wall behind it. Aragorn shifts uncomfortably in the chair, trying once more to avoid the gazes of the other two dwarves in the room.

"Your wife invited me to have tea with her. Do I plan to keep my mouth under control remains to be seen depending on how the ladies accompanying her act." Bella says dryly as the silver haired dwarf begins expertly twisting her hair into braids.

"You do not have to stay if you do not wish to Bella nor do you have to share tea with Arwen. If you wish to," The silver haired dwarf snaps a bead onto her braid then turns sharply, his hands on his hips as he glares at him.

"I don't believe that you have a say in what she does. If Bella wishes to attend tea with….That woman and show off her sass skills then so be it. I would love to see her attend the tea and do so. Let me braid my hair and then we can go Bella dear." The dwarf gives her shoulder a squeeze then moves into the conjoined bathroom, hands already setting to work.

"Don't mind Dori. He's not very trustworthy of strangers, especially of big folk. It doesn't help that he's particularly protective of Bella." The redhead with a baggy cardigan gives him a timid smile.

"Hmm, particularly isn't a word to use. Be happy it's not Dwalin who's attending the tea with Bella. He'll shove cookies into his mouth, break teacups and gross the ladies out. Then at the end he'll brush the crumbs from his beard and tell them that Bella's cookies are better." The other one sprawls leisurely across the bed, picking at his nails with a knife. The dwarves are a new arrival from Erebor, thundering into the city mere days after the wedding demanding to see their burglar. Upon seeing Aragorn all of them had scowled and glared, turning their backs on the new king. Any attempts at talking to them were met with silence until finally Bella came to stand next to him. The dwarves had brushed past him and enveloped her in their arms, carting her away. And now, the silver haired dwarf reemerges from the bathroom with his hair and beard twisted in intricate braids it seemed they were to have tea with Arwen.

"Excuse me your majesty." Bella's tone is cool as she brushes past him, her gaze steely. She walks past him with stiff shoulders and hard eyes, the silver haired dwarf with his nose in the air and his arm around her shoulder. The dwarf on the bed snorts, standing and following after them.

"Why does she stay if she's so unhappy?" Aragorn asks in the heavy silence that follows.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced yet. Ori, son of Kori. I can't exactly bring myself to be at your service though, I'm afraid after what happened with Bella. And I think she stays because she doesn't want to go home to an empty smial. Dori, the one going with her to tea wants her to come back to Erebor. We all do."

"But she loves her Shire." Aragorn says, still staring at the doorway.

"Yes, she loves the Shire where she met you. I remember all the letters she sent me to tell me about you. Hobbits are like dwarves in a sense, they love deeply and fiercely. Bella loves with all she has and more."

"Is she happy there in the Shire?" Ori's face falls for half a second then returns to its timid mask.

"She's trying." Ori shrugs and just like the others leaves the room. Aragorn is left alone in her room but he's surrounded by Bella. Her comb is still laid out on the vanity table, her dress from the previous night thrown over a chair. Her outfit from the wedding is nowhere to be seen and Aragorn prepares to leave. As he closes the door behind him, he pauses to take in one last glimpse of Bella before closing the door behind him.

Aragorn sees neither hide nor hair of Bella until that night at dinner. She sits with her dwarven companions who all cease talking in favor of scowling at his and Arwen's entrance into the dining room. One dwarf in particular wearing a floppy eared hat gives him a nasty glare, scooting his chair closer to Bella and wrapping a protective arm around her. At the end of dinner the two walk off together, his arm wrapped around her waist. The rush of jealously is unexpected and sour, bile rising in his throat as he watches the two of them walk off together.

"Excuse me. I'm going to visit the infirmary, I'm not feeling well." Aragorn's words are met with expressions of concern and questions, none of which he meets or answers as he turns and walks from the room. He doesn't go to the infirmary but again walks by Bella's room, that jealously still there deep in his stomach. Sour and bitter, threatening to grow and swallow him whole the closer he gets to her room.

"Bella, I'm begging ye to just think about it. There are good dwarves, honorable dwarves who would marry ye and who I know ye would love. They could do right by ye. And ye wouldn't have to be put on the back burner, forced to forever play second fiddle to some elf maiden." A thick brogue begs only to be met with Bella's sigh.

"Erebor is no life for me Bofur. Perhaps it was once long ago. Perhaps before Aragorn it was. I fulfilled my contract and followed the company to face down a dragon which we did. To go to Erebor now in the hopes I could find a dwarf that would marry me, knowing that I'm just dooming him to the same life I live now would be like facing down Smaug all over again."

"You are happy then to linger here? Day after day knowing your fate is to be in love with a man who cannot act on it, cannot give you what you want? Bella." The voice softens with sadness.

"Ye know that I would give ye everything in the world if possible. Let you feed me until I'm fat, shave my face and put it on my feet if that's what ye wanted. Fill up a smial with kids and watch them run around our yard, carving toys. I would give ye that today, yesterday and every day after would ye allow me." And in the lingering silence Aragorn wants her to say yes, to scream yes, and jump up and down to accept it. But there's only deafening silence.

"I have thought about it. What our children would look like, what we would name them and the lives they would have. And maybe there's a world out there, somewhere else where you and I will meet somehow. Somewhere that I've not chosen this fate and right now we're watching our children run around in the yard. Somewhere you and I both live in the happiness we deserve." If that's true then Aragorn supposes there's somewhere he's living with Bella. And there's no crown on his brow, no elf maiden on his arm. Somewhere he's not tied to this fate.

"Did you get lost on the way to the infirmary?" The voice is a whisper but it pulls him from his trance. Aragorn turns sharply, hand on his sword only to come face to face with Ori. From inside the room come the sounds of the bedframe hitting the wall and the sounds of moans. Ori looks unfazed by it, merely shrugging as he grabs Aragorn's arm, pulling him away from the door.

"That dwarf Bofur." Aragorn says as Ori leads him down the hallway.

"Is nothing more than a very dear friend to Bella. They take pleasure with each other sometimes and I believe care for each other a little more deeply than they'd like to admit sometimes. But they're best friends. I would ask what you were doing outside her door but I have this feeling….You still love Bella, don't you?"

"It's difficult not to love her." Aragorn's answer is met with a genuine smile from the dwarf as he nods.

"Yes, that's the truth isn't it? She's been writing about the story between you two, you know. The characters are named differently. You're named Viggo, Bella's named Ianna and Lady Arwen is named Liv. Still the name rolls of course: still a king, a lady and a simple hobbit that's come home from an adventure. Won't tell me what she calls the Shire, Rivendell and Gondor. But in the end you choose her. The ladies read it today at tea."

"If you asked me, I think that you should have chosen Bella. But perhaps that's just because I want to see my hobbit happy." The dwarf gives him a small smile and Aragorn realizes with a start they've stopped in front of the infirmary door. There's no more talk between them as the dwarf turns on his heel and makes his way down the hallway, humming happily.

* * *

><p>Bella keeps it together for a week. A week: she sits through tea gripping the cup all too tightly, her smile strained and too tight as the ladies laugh about the 'flighty Ianna' thinking a king could love her. And truly the king Viggo shouldn't have been so conflicted when the choice was so obvious. Arwen is the one holding the book in her lap today, reading aloud. Bella resists the urge to crumble the cookie in her hand. The elf maid pauses, her plump lips parting as she raises a slender eyebrow in surprise. She shakes her head, lifting it to look around the tittering ladies.<p>

"I just can't understand this part. Hobbits are fond of the comforts of home and surely she wouldn't choose to follow him to his kingdom. I think the king should stay with his betrothed if he wishes to avoid heartache. After all, why would the king pick a hobbit over his betrothed?" The cup slides onto the floor, shattering as all eyes turned to her. For months it had been growing in her stomach, hot as a brand iron since Aragorn had told her the truth about his trips to Rivendell. And now she was seeing red as she glares at Arwen. The words come before she can swallow them down and replace them with an apology for the teacup.

"Because he doesn't love you!" The room goes silent and Bella feels her stomach drop as the ladies eyes widen.

"Her….Her, the king doesn't love her." It's too late though she knows as the ladies all shift and clear their throats. Arwen's expression is a stoic mask, her gray eyes flashing as she blinks furiously. Her gaze is not on Bella but behind her, on Aragorn who stands in the doorway, his gaze on Bella.

"So I see." Arwen says and stands fluidly, stopping all the conversation in the room. She inclines her head ever so slightly, smile in place.

"You'll have to excuse me ladies. I look forward to tea tomorrow with you all." She stands, leaving the book abandoned on her chair.

Her words bounce around in Aragorn's head: 'because he doesn't love you'. It was the truth. He had no love in his heart for his wife, the Evenstar. But she'd had no idea. She'd had no idea what the real truth was behind the hobbit. Now it is all out in the open, the wound torn open and gaping for the world to see. The puss is flowing and the wound raw and red, spectators gawping and laughing as the king attempts to save this.

"Is it true? Tell me if it's true what the hobbit said back there? I saw the look in her eyes, a jealous, angry look." Arwen says as soon as the doors closed.

"I met Bella in the Shire around the same time that our marriage was being set up. I would spend time with her during the days and then once a month go visit you. I had not intended to fall in love with her. I understood that my duty was to my kingdom and to my people but I did not tell her until it was nearly time for my coronation."

"How deeply do you care for her?" Arwen's voice cracks and Aragorn closes his eyes.

"I would lay my life down for her."

"Would you do the same for me?"

"I would. Not out of love but because it expected of me as a king to protect his queen." Arwen's head bows and he tries to ignore the sharp inhale that comes from her.

"It is a loveless marriage then." Arwen's voice is a whisper but it threatens to shatter his eardrums.

"I do not love you. When you lived in Rivendell I will confess that I enjoyed our talks and spending time with you as a friend. But I always looked forward to getting back to Bella and leaving Rivendell behind me."

"I will perform my duties as a husband. If you wish to lie together then I will lay with you. Even if it is only because you wish to produce an heir. I will listen to you and talk to you as I did in Rivendell. I will spend time with, ride horses with you and read with you from time to time if you wish. But I cannot promise that I will ever love you." Their talk is interrupted by a sharp knocking on the door. Aragorn composes himself quickly, throwing his shoulders back as he goes to the door. One of the guards stands there, expression confused beneath his helmet.

"The dwarves and the hobbit have left your majesty. I was asked by the halfling to bring you this." At the mention of the hobbit Arwen turns, walking towards the bathroom. Aragorn doesn't notice though, a numbness spreading through his body as he accepts the package from the guard.

"Thank you." His legs feel like jelly as he walks towards his armchair, sitting down heavily. The first thing he sees as he opens the lid is Bella's outfit from the wedding. Aragorn lifts her waistcoat to his nose, inhaling deeply. For a moment he smells grass shoots, roses and strawberries. Bella. The next thing on top is a leather bound book with a letter resting atop it. He opens the letter with the waistcoat spread across his lap, numbness spreading as he realizes that she really is truly gone.

* * *

><p>Who caught the Moulin Rouge reference? I didn't mean for Ori to kind of take the place of Gandalf as far knowing and meddling in matter but I like it.<p>

As for Bofur and Bella: I love Boffins and couldn't resist squeezing them in there.

And the letter: you'll just have to wait and see what's written down.


End file.
